


Light Carries On

by wakeupstiles



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Heartbreak, I mean, Major character death - Freeform, This Is Sad, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-13
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-09-17 05:16:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9306908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wakeupstiles/pseuds/wakeupstiles
Summary: Kara knew this day would come, though she didn't expect it to come sosoon.She thought she'd be prepared. She thought she'd have more time. But there was never enough time. Because, Kryptonian's aged slower on earth.





	

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by this post on tumblr and the song saturn by sleeping at last

Kryptonian’s aged slower on earth.

Kara knew this day would come, though she didn't expect it to be so soon. She thought she'd be prepared. She thought she'd have more _time._ But there was never enough time.

“I don’t want you to be here.” She said through a ragged cough. “You should go.” She wheezed, gripping the younger girl’s hand tighter, begging her to walk out the door. Though, technically she wasn’t younger; she was older. If they’d been going by actual age, then Kara would be the older sister and Alex would be the youngest. But, as life had a way of laughing at them, Kara was sitting in the chair beside the hospital bed, not looking a day over thirty-five, while Alex lay in the hospital bed, five months away from ninety-seven.

Kara shook her head, gripping her sister’s hand a little tighter. “I’m not leaving you.” Tears brimmed her eyes, though she told herself she wouldn’t cry, not in front of Alex at least; she’d cried too much the past few weeks already.

Alex shook her head. “You don’t need to see this. You’ve seen all the others— _please,_ Kara, you don’t need to see this.” She begged, her voice cracking, another cough ripping through her.

Kara, ever the stubborn, stayed in the chair. “I’m not going anywhere, Alex.” She said sternly, bringing a small cup of water to her sister’s lips and slightly tipping it forward so that she could sip some.

Sighing and giving up, Alex leaned back on the pillows and shut her eyes, a slight smile turning up the corners of her mouth. Even in old age, she was beautiful and strong, Kara noted. Over the years, despite her body breaking down, Alex never lost her fight. She never lost her fire. It broke Kara’s heart every year that passed, every year when Alex grew older and Kara stayed the same. Every year that Alex got sicker and Kara didn’t so much as sneeze.

She didn’t think about it much when they were younger, though she knew in the back of her mind that it was coming. It wasn’t until Alex was forty-five and Kara still looked twenty-five that she _finally_ realized what was going to happen. It knocked her off her feet, to say the least. When the truth dawned on her, it began to weigh her down. Alex could see it, so could Maggie and Lena and the rest of their friends.

But Kara still smiled. Despite it all, Kara still smiled.

Right now, though, she’d forgotten how to smile.

“Do you remember when you first came to earth?” Alex suddenly asked, her voice coming out in little gasps as she tried to take a deep breath.

Kara nodded, propping her chin up in her fist. “I was so afraid.”

“I was afraid, too.” She huffed a laugh. “I was afraid that I wouldn’t be good enough for you.” She admitted.

Kara held her head up, leaning towards her sister and said, earnestly, “You were. You _are._ You were always good enough.”

Alex opened her mouth to reply, but all that came out was a deep, vicious cough. Kara offered her more water, but Alex held her hand up in refusal. Kara’s heart clenched. She could tell. She could tell there wasn’t… When the doctor had called her that morning, she nearly punched a hole through the wall of her house.

_“Not much time left…might not make it through the night…”_

But Kara didn’t want to believe her because Alex was a fighter. Alex was a _fighter._ Alex would survive.

Though, when she’d arrived at the hospital just hours earlier after the phone call, she knew. She didn’t want to face it, but now, sitting in that chair beside her sister, she knew.

There wasn’t much time left.

And she felt her heart shattering all over again.

“Where do you think I’ll go?” Alex questioned. At first Kara thought she was just wondering aloud, but then Alex turned her gaze to her sister and asked, “Do you think I’ll even go anywhere? I don’t believe in heaven.”

“You’ll go home, Alex.” Kara answered. “You’ll go back to the stars.”

“You’ll think of me.” Alex’s tone was hopeful and Kara felt her eyes begin to sting. “When you look up at the sky.”

Kara nodded, lacing her fingers with her sister’s. “I’ll think of you even when I’m not. You’re infinite, Alex. Even when you’re gone—even when you go, you’ll still be with me. You’ll be all around me.”

Alex nodded, satisfied. “I like that idea.” She struggled to take a deep breath, wheezing with each try. Kara was breaking, watching her sister in pain and not being about to do a damn thing about it. It killed her more than Kryptonite ever could. “I had a good life, Kara.” Alex’s exasperated breath broke the silence. “I had you, I had Maggie. Our friends, mom, dad, J’onn. It was a good life. I did so many things. Not all were good, but I tried.”

“You were good, Alex. You did good.” Kara affirmed. And it was true; half the stuff Kara accomplished, all the lives Supergirl had saved, it wouldn’t have been possible without Alex by her side.

Alex was the light. Alex was everything.

“Yeah?” Alex asked, cracking a little grin.

“Yeah.” Kara struggled to grin back.

Everything ached. Everything was on fire.

Alex reached up with a shaky hand and pressed it against Kara’s cheek. Kara leaned into the touch, pressing her palm against Alex’s hand, closing her eyes. “Don’t…don’t be sad too much, okay?” Alex whispered, her voice just barely audible, but Kara heard everything. “Don’t let this world…don’t let this world ruin you… You’re not alone, Kara, you’re not alone.” She was struggling to breathe now and this was _too soon too soon too soon._ It was happening too soon. And it was all too much. Kara wanted to scream. She wanted to fly out into the galaxy and combust. It shouldn’t be happening.

_It was too soon. It was too much._

_It shouldn’t be happening._

But it _was_ happening.

It was happening and Kara couldn’t turn back time.

“You’re infinite.” Alex repeated Kara’s words. “And one day you’ll come home. But not too soon, or else I’ll kick your ass.” She added with a smirk, winking.

Kara stifled a laugh and quirked her lips up. “Okay.”

“Promise me.”

“I promise.”

Alex nodded, then added, “And promise you’ll be happy. Promise you’ll try.”

That would be harder, but Kara nodded anyway. “I-I promise.”

“Good.” A thin smile cracked her lips as she closed her eyes. “And don’t be sad for me, okay? Don’t be sad…don’t cry too much…I get to see my wife again. I get to see Maggie.”

_Not yet. Not yet. Not yet._

Anxiety and fear swelled within her. “I’m not ready for you to leave. I’m not-I’m not ready to be an only child.” Kara’s eyes were wide now, and her voice was panicked and strained and afraid.

_Please, just more time. Just some more time. I need more time!_ She was screaming inside herself. At who or what, she didn’t know. Anyone that would listen—if anyone was listening at all.

“It’s okay, Kara.” Alex patted her sister’s hand, a few tears slipping out of the corners of her eyes. “It’s okay. The world still needs Supergirl.”

_I need more time. I need more time. I need more time._

“But I need _you._ ” Didn’t the universe understand? There was no Kara without Alex—there was no Supergil without her sister.

“You’ll always have me.” She assured softly.

Her chest was barely rising. Her eyes were shut.

_No. No. No._

“I love you, Alex.” Kara whispered, a flood of tears washing down her face.

_Please don’t. Please don’t. Please don’t._

“I love you, too, Kara.” She whispered, followed by a long, shallow breath trailing after the word. The heart monitor stopped ticking. The green line went flat, and nothing but a solid, shrill beep echoed through the room. Kara laid her head down on her sister’s cold hand, and she sobbed.

Kara was alone.

All that she was, gone.

_Because, Kryptonian’s aged slower on earth._

**Author's Note:**

> sorry? :)
> 
> *i wrote this at 3am, sorry in advance for any spelling errors


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